Stroke victims regain speech with song

I read, on Sunday February 21, 2010, this article and found it fascinating as it gives hope for the treatment of many medical conditions. Here’s one.

“US scientists have restored speech to stroke victims by getting them to sing words instead of speaking them, says a leading neurologist.

Gottfried Schlaug, an associate professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School, has found that patients who have suffered a stroke in the left side of the brain and are unable to speak words are often able to sing them.

He showed reporters at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Saturday a video of a patient with a stroke lesion on the left side of the brain, whom he asked to recite the words of the birthday song.

The patient was unable to comply, and merely repeated the letters N and O.

But when Schlaug asked him to sing the song, while someone held the patient’s left hand and tapped it rhythmically, the words Happy birthday to you came out clear as day.

This patient has meaningless utterances when we ask him to say the words but as soon as we asked him to sing, he was able to speak the words, Schlaug said.

Another patient was taught to say, I am thirsty by singing, while another patient who had a large lesion on the left side of the brain and had for several years tried various therapies to try to regain the power of speech, all unsuccessful, was taught to say his address.

Images of the brains of patients with stroke lesions on the left side of the brain – which is typically used more for speech – show functional and structural changes on the right side of the brain after they have undergone this form of therapy through song, called Music Intonation Therapy (MIT).

Schlaug is currently running a randomised clinical trial of MIT with a view to gaining acceptance of the therapy in the medical field.

In the United States, MIT could potentially help up to 70,000 nonverbal stroke victims to retrieve the ability to speak, Schlaug said.”

This article reminds me of one of my students a number of years ago when I taught music at The Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority for the Visually Impaired, (APSEA). I am not sure if she had had a stroke; her speech was very limited although she could sing both melody and harmony and, for the most part, understood what you wanted her to do. Even when she spoke her few short phrases, they were in a sing-song vocal style, reaffirming the studies that the part of the brain used for speech is different than the part utilized when one is singing. More on that topic in future posts.

Maria

Tags: Association For The Advancement Of Science, Birthday Song, Clinical Trial, Gottfried Schlaug, Left Side Of The Brain, Lesion, Lesions, Power Of Speech, Stroke Victims